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What’s the difference between identity fraud and identity theft? Well, it’s subtle, so much so that it’s easy to use them nearly interchangeably. While both can take a bite out of your wallet, they are different—and knowing the differences can help you know understand what’s at stake.
Let’s start with an overview and a few examples of each.
So there’s that subtle difference we mentioned. Identity fraud involves misuse of an existing account. Identity theft means the theft of your personal information, which is then used to impersonate you in some way, such as opening new accounts in your name.
Above and beyond those definitions and examples, a couple of real-life examples put the differences in perspective as well.
As for identity fraud, individual cases of fraud don’t always make the headlines, but that’s not to say you won’t hear about it a couple of different ways.
The first way may be news stories about data breaches, where hackers gain things like names, emails, and payment information from companies or organizations. (Chipotle, RobinHood, and T-Mobile being recent examples.) That info can then end up in the hands of a fraudster, who then accesses those accounts to drain funds or make purchases.
On a smaller scale, you may know someone who has had to get a new credit or debit card because theirs was compromised, perhaps by a breach or by mistakenly making a payment through an insecure website or by visiting a phony login page as part of a phishing attack. These can lead to fraud as well.
Identity theft took on new forms during the pandemic, such as was the case of a Rhode Island man charged with nearly half a million dollars in a pandemic unemployment fraud case. Authorities allege that the man-made 85 unemployment claims in 2020 using the identities of several other people.
Similarly, a Massachusetts man was sentenced for filing fraudulent claims for relief funds, as well as open store credit accounts using fake identities. Court proceedings alleged that the personal information used to commit this fraud came from several sources, including information stolen from a realty company that collected that information from potential renters.
Identity theft can stem from the workplace as well, such as the sentencing of a Maryland man who used stolen lists of personal information from his former employer. From there, he was found guilty of garnering more than a million dollars in funds from food assistance programs and fraudulent car loans.
Identity theft can run far deeper than these examples. Because it effectively allows someone else to pose as you, an identity thief can do more than drain your accounts. They can also claim health insurance benefits, file taxes in your name, or possibly purchase the property. Further, an identity thief can potentially get a job, driver’s license, or other forms of ID in your name, which could ruin your credit history, reputation, or even create a police record in your name.
So while both identity fraud and identity theft are certainly something you want to prevent, identity theft holds the potential to affect far-reaching aspects of your life—which marks a distinct difference between the two.
It usually starts with someone saying anything from, “That’s strange …” to “Oh, no!” There’ll be a strange charge on your credit card bill, a piece of mail from a bill collector, or a statement from an account you never opened—just to name a few things.
With that, I have a few recent blogs that help you spot all kinds of identity crime, along with advice to help keep it from happening to you in the first place:
While there are differences between identity fraud and identity theft, they do share a couple of things in common: you can take steps to prevent them, and you can take steps to limit their impact should you find yourself faced with one or the other.
The articles called out above will give you the details, yet staying safe begins with vigilance. Check on your accounts and credit reports regularly and really scrutinize what’s happening in them. Consider covering yourself with an —and act on anything that looks strange or outright fishy by reporting it to the company or institution in question.
The post What’s the Difference Between Identity Fraud and Identity Theft? appeared first on McAfee Blog.
To enjoy online life to the fullest these days, we often have to give out a certain amount of personal information. That also means the moment you go online you’re giving personal data away. Whether it’s your phone, a game console, or a connected speaker, someone, somewhere, is monitoring your connection. Knowing what data your device sends, and who has access to that information, is an important part of maintaining your online privacy. However, without the right tools, you’re probably giving away a lot more information than you realize. Many believe that one effective way to maintain online privacy is by using a private mode on a browser.
However, it’s a common misconception that “private browsing” modes–like Google’s Incognito–protect your online privacy. It makes sense, they’re called “private browsing”, what else would they do? Well, if you’ve read the news lately, you may have seen that Google is in a $5 billion lawsuit specifically because of their private browsing mode.
The thing is, incognito mode is often misunderstood. When you open an incognito window, you’re told that “You’ve gone incognito.” The explanation underneath says that your browsing history, website visits, cookies, and information you put in forms, won’t be saved. This is where the confusion starts. What the incognito explanation doesn’t tell you is that your browsing information isn’t blocked or hidden from advertisers while in incognito mode. So even though your browsing information “won’t be saved” on your device or available after you close the window, that doesn’t stop the internet from seeing everything you’ve been up to while in that session.
For these reasons, more people use virtual private networks, or VPNs, to protect their browsing history from prying eyes. If you’re new to VPN, this might be the perfect time to learn about what they are, how they work and why you might choose a VPN over private browsing.
VPN protects your devices by wrapping your internet connection in a secure tunnel that only you can access. This stops people —like those nosey advertisers—from seeing what sites you visit. With a secure connection to the Internet, every search request, every website you browse, is hidden from sight. It’s important to point out that VPN doesn’t make you anonymous; they make it so only you can see what you’re doing online. You can learn even more about VPN in this blog.
Without private browsing, your browser tells websites–and their owners–all kinds of things about you like what device you’re using, where you are, what sites you’ve visited, and when. Websites use this information to serve you relevant ads, but it can also be used to track your location and browsing habits.
With private browsing, your browser window is isolated from the rest of your operating system. Isolating the browser is supposed to help block websites from seeing who you are, block cookies and prevent access to your browsing history, but even when using private browsing, tests like EFF’s Panopticlick privacy test can see what device you’re on, where you’re connecting, if you can accept cookies, your OS, and many other types personally-identifying information.
We wouldn’t recommend using incognito mode instead of a VPN, ever. However, Incognito mode has its place in your online security toolkit, as long as you don’t think of it as a replacement for other types of protection. For instance, if you share a device with other people, like family members, then you might want to use incognito mode to make sure your partner doesn’t accidentally find out how much you spent on their surprise birthday gift. But, if you’re concerned with advertisers tracking you and watching what you do online, then you should consider also using a VPN to protect your privacy.
If you’re already a McAfee Total Protection subscriber, you have access to unlimited VPN usage. Protect your personal information, like your banking information and credit cards, from prying eyes with McAfee Total Protection’s Secure VPN. If you haven’t already signed up, now’s the perfect time. McAfee Total Protection provides security for all your devices, giving you peace of mind while you shop, bank, and browse online.
The post Private browsing vs VPN – Which one is more private? appeared first on McAfee Blog.
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